


The First of Many Happy Halloweens to Come

by Calacious



Category: General Hospital (TV 1963)
Genre: AU:Major Canon Divergence, Adoption, Domestic Fluff, Found Family, Halloween, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Fic, M/M, Mention of Domestic Violence but Off-Screen, Minor OC Character Death Mentioned, kid!Jason, kid!spinelli, some minor angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:27:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27324244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calacious/pseuds/Calacious
Summary: The papers have been signed, the judge has ruled in their favor, it's time for the Lovett-Zacchara household to celebrate their first Halloween as a family. (Johnny is feeling a bit nostalgic.)
Relationships: Ethan Lovett/Johnny Zacchara
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	The First of Many Happy Halloweens to Come

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween!
> 
> This is AU, and features a very different Johnny, Ethan, Jason and Spinelli. Johnny and Ethan are married. Johnny is a police officer and Ethan is a mechanic. Jason and Spinelli are brothers who lost their parents in a traumatic event that is not really featured in this story.
> 
> Thank you csi_sanders1129 for your encouragement through the writing process.

Officer Johnny Zacchara of the Port Charles Police Department sat down heavily at his desk. It had been a rough night. He and his partner had been called out to handle a domestic abuse call that had ended in tragedy, and now there were two little boys left without parents. Sighing, Johnny turned on his laptop and started to work on typing up the report. It was going to be a long night.

The long night turned into several long nights, nearly a year's worth of them as Johnny, haunted by the looks in the orphaned boys' eyes, petitioned the court to adopt. The fact that he was married, and had been for the past five years, worked in his favor, but wasn't enough to counter the dangers of his job. Thankfully his husband, Ethan Lovett-Zacchara, had what the judge had determined to be a safer job as a mechanic. If something happened to Johnny, Ethan would be there for the boys.

The fact that Ethan had taken one look at the boys that Johnny had told him he wanted to adopt, and fallen in love with them, also worked in their favor. The year had been filled with what felt like an unending round of mishaps followed by triumphs as he and Ethan filled out the paperwork to foster the boys after the first foster home the boys had been placed in had proven to be unsafe. The oldest, Jason, had ended up with a black eye and the youngest, Damian, had ended up with a broken wrist. Johnny had seen red, and it had taken Ethan's steadying presence, and the social workers promise that their paperwork would be pushed through immediately, to keep Johnny from killing the couple who'd hurt the boys.

Fostering had its ups and downs, and it took a long time for Jason to trust that he and Ethan were not going to hurt him and Damian. It was easier with Damian, who, in spite of what had happened to him at the previous foster home, took to his new family like a duck to water. The three year old was a joy to have around, full of laughter and shy smiles. Jason was far more reserved, and broody. Far more broody than any five year old had a right to be. 

"Daddy?" Damian said, breaking Johnny out of his thoughts and making him smile. He didn't think he'd ever tire of hearing that word from his, officially as of yesterday, four-year-old son's mouth.

"What is it, Tiger?" Johnny asked, hoisting Damian onto his lap. 

"It's Halloween," he said, green eyes moving toward puppy dog stage.

Johnny nodded. As if he could forget that it was Halloween. That's all Damian had been talking about for the past two weeks. 

"Can we go trick-or-treating?" he asked, eyes fully in puppy dog mode now, lower lip trembling just a little. It was a look that worked well on Ethan, and if Johnny was being honest with himself, it worked on him most of the time as well.

"It's seven in the morning, Tiger," Johnny said, kissing the tip of Damian's nose. "Trick-or-treating doesn't start until after dinner."

Damian's nose scrunched up and he frowned. "But that's a million years from now," he said. "And I wanna be 'uigi, and Jay wants to be Mario now."

"No, Jason doesn't want to be Mario now," Jason said. He was slouching in the doorway, a slight frown darkening his face. He'd come a long way since Johnny and Ethan had first taken him in, but he was still a bit of a bear to handle at times. Early mornings before Johnny left for work, was one of those times. To say that Jason was not a morning person was an extreme understatement. 

Damian turned his pout on his big brother who merely raised an eyebrow in response, a habit he'd quickly learned from Ethan, and perfected in record time. "We can't go trick-or-treating now," Jason said, easing his way into the room. "It's not even dark yet, and people have to go to work first."

"But there's no school today," Damian said. "It's Saturday." 

"But people like Daddy have to work," Jason said, and it took everything in Johnny not to gasp when Jason called him Daddy. It was a word that he'd never allowed himself to hope Jason would speak. His heart felt like it was going to burst right out of his chest.

"Your Daddy and brother are right," Ethan said, stepping into the room and pressing a kiss to Damian's and then Johnny's head. He patted Jason on the head, mindful of the six year old's dislike of affectionate displays. He was so prickly that it was hard to tell when he wanted affection, so unless Jason actively sought out a hug, Johnny and Ethan were mindful to give him his space.

"But it's so far away," Damian complained, throwing himself back dramatically. 

"Let's get some breakfast in you, and then we'll watch some Halloween movies," Ethan said, taking Damian from Johnny's lap, and putting him on his shoulders. 

"I'm the emporer!" Damian shouted. "Forward march, trusty steed."

Ethan galloped into the kitchen amid the sound of happy giggles. Jason watched warily, a look of longing on his face. 

"I bet if you get on my shoulders, you can be taller than Damian," Johnny offered, holding his breath as he waited for the rejection he was sure would come from Jason's mouth. 

Jason eyed him carefully, shifting from foot-to-foot. "You really think so?" he asked. 

Nodding, Johnny offered a hand to the boy, who, after a moment's hesitation, took it. Jason clambered onto Johnny's shoulders with some help, and Johnny galloped into the kitchen, startling a laugh out of the boy who rarely laughed. The sound stole Johnny's breath for a second, and he knew that he probably looked like a sap with the goofy, earsplitting grin he was sure was on his face when he entered the kitchen.

"Who's emperor now?" Jason asked as Johnny and Ethan stood face to face, the boys squaring off with each other on their shoulders.

"That's not fair!" Damian said. "You're always taller than me."

"Boys," Ethan said, effectively cutting off what might have become an argument (the boys rarely fought; Jason being very protective of Damian). 

"You can be emperor, Dames," Jason said. Johnny felt the little boy slump. 

"No," Damian said. "We can both be emperors!" 

"Now, that sounds like a fine plan," Ethan said. "How do pancakes and bacon sound for breakfast?"

"I want batcakes and vampire's blood!" Damian said. 

"We can't eat bats and blood for breakfast," Jason said, sounding thoroughly disgusted by the idea.

"How about pancakes in the shape of bats and pumpkins?" Johnny asked. 

"And bloody syrup?" Damian asked, bending down so that he could look Ethan in the eyes.

"Would I serve any other kind on the morning of Halloween, your emperorship?" Ethan asked.

Damian giggled, and Johnny helped gather the ingredients for their Halloween themed breakfast. 

They worked in tandem, boys on their shoulders issuing orders every now and then, exchanging playful barbs with each other. Jason's voice was filled with something that Johnny suspected had been missing for a long time from the boy's life -- happiness. As Johnny chopped up strawberries and placed them in the food processor to make the 'bloody syrup' that Emperor Damian had ordered, he felt lighter than he had in a long time, like a burden had been lifted off his shoulders (which was a little ironic considering there was a boy perched on his shoulders). He wished he didn't have to go to work that day, that he could stay at home, nestled on the couch with the man and two little boys he loved, watching Halloween movies and eating popcorn and candy.

"We'll still be here when you get home," Ethan said, easily reading Johnny's thoughts. "We'll save a couple of movies and some popcorn and candy for you."

"Yeah, Daddy," Damian said. "We can watch Casper and --"

"Hocus Pocus," Jason cut in. 

"But not until AFTER we go trick-or-treating, right Papa?" Damian tilted his head until he could look Ethan in the eyes.

"Right," Ethan said. "Now, why don't you boys go set the table for breakfast?" 

The boys were lowered to the floor, and scampered off to get the table set, giving Ethan and Johnny a few moments alone. Ethan pulled Johnny in for a kiss. "Thank you," he said when they moved apart.

"For what?" Johnny asked, perplexed. He searched Ethan's eyes, which were shining with love and happiness. 

"For this," Ethan said, flapping his hand between them. "For bringing the boys into our lives. For making us a family."

Johnny tugged Ethan to himself and drew him into another kiss. "Thank you," he said, voice thick with emotion. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be a family."

"Dads," Jason said, and Johnny could swear that he heard the boy's eyes roll. When he pulled away from Ethan, and turned to look at the boy, Jason had his hands on his hips, an eyebrow raised, and Damian was standing next to him, a twinkle in his green eyes. 

"The table's set," Damian said.

"Well, then it looks like it's time to eat," Ethan said, squeezing Johnny's hand. 

"I don't think I'll ever tire of this," Johnny said. 

"Of what, love?"

"Of hearing Jason call us Dads, like we're two school boys being scolded for misbehavior," Johnny said.

Ethan laughed. "He did remind me of one of the nuns who taught at one of the schools I went to when I was a kid."

"Dads!" Jason yelled. 

"We're starving!" Damian shouted. 

"Sounds like we're being summoned by our emperors," Ethan said. There was a dopey grin on his face, and Johnny knew he had a matching one on his face as well.

He couldn't wait until his shift was over at the PCPD, and he could return to his boys, and celebrate the first of what would be many happy Halloweens spent together as a family.


End file.
